Base-ball-game apparatus.



Patentea Mar. 1, 1910. 3 SIIETB-SHET 1.

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BASH BALL GAME. PPARATUS.

APPLICATION I'ILED JUNE 19, 1909.

Patente Mar. 1,1%).

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"WILLIAIVI E. SMALL, OF BROOKLYN, 'NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB. OF ONE-THIRD T0 TAMES M. COTTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ONE-TI-IERD TO JAMES F. KELLY COMPANY, OZE* NEW YORK, N. Y., A ORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BASE-BALIi-GAME APPARATUS.

Specfieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. i, 1010..

Application filed June 19, 1909. Serial No. 503,144.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM E. SMALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in Base-Ball-Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a game apparatus and more particularly to a parlor baseball game apparatus, the object being to provide a simple and efiicient construction of device whereby all the various plays made during the actual progress of the game can be graphicallyrepresented and another object of the invention is to introduce the element of chance into the operation of the device whereby a highly interesting game is produced.

`With these objects in view my invention consists in the novel features of construction and combination hereinafter fully described y and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification -Figure 1 is a top plan view of the top board of the apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the said top board. Fg. 3 is a top plan view of the board upon which the ball is projected for the purpose of Operating the various levers which graphically indicate the plays and, Fig. A is an in- Verted plan view of the said board carrying the said levers. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the apparatns, and F ig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing the manner of arranging and Operating the figure indicating the base runner.

In constructing an apparatustin accordance with my invention, I employ a top board A which has marked thereon the representation of the baseball diamond, and

adjacent the first, second and third bases a slot A' is produced, the purpose of which will appear hereinafter. Near the corner of the board adjacent the home-plate is produced an opening A2 and upon the undersicle of said board directly beneath said opening is a chute A3 which directs the ball B onto the board A, said ball B being dropped through the opening A2 to start the play. Pins D are arranged upon the board A to receive figures indicatng the pitcher, catcher, batter and base men and these figures may be made of wood, papiermach or any other suitable material. The board A has a plurality of openings E produced therein, said openings being arranged at various points and while I have shown them in certain localities it will of course be understood that they can be arranged at other points if so desired without interfering with the proper operation of the game. Most of these openings are normally covered by means of a hinged cover F and each cover F has marked upon the underside thereof the particular play which its operation or movement is intendecl to indicate but in Fg. 1 of the drawing I have placed these marks or indicia upon the board beside the cover and this arrangement may be followed if so desired.

It will be noted that there are sixteen openings E and twelve of these openings are provided with the hinged covers F while over the others I preferably arrange a iigure, said figures being carried upon rods as hereinafter described. As before stated the ball B is dropped through the opening A2, strikes upon the board C and said board being slightly inolined as indicated and the ball B being quite heavy will roll around upon the said board C being confined by a wall O' of suitable height and a pluralty of pins C2 tend to obstruct and divert the movement of the ball B but sooner or later the said ball will drop through one of the series of openings produced in the said board O.

Upon the nnclerside of the board C are arranged the levers G, each lever being pivotally mounted in a bracket G' and at one end, each lever has a disk G2 connected therewith and these levers are of such length and are so shaped that a disk G2 will be arranged directly beneath one of the openings C2 produced in the board O. rJEhe opposite end of each lever G is provided with an upwardly extending rod H, said rod passing upwardly through an opening O* produced in the board O and this rod G is of such length that when the levers G are in their normal positions the upper end of the rod H will lie iush with the top of the board A and will rest within the opening E and as before stated some of these openings are closed by means of covers F and others by means of figures and it will be understood that those openings which are closed by means of figures, said figures will be mounted upon the upper ends` of said rods I-I and as there are sixteen openings E in the board A there will of course be sixteen openings C* in the board C. As the ball drops through the opening C3 it strikes the disk Gr2 and operates the lever G forcing the rod H upwardly and this upward movement of. the rod H serves tothrow the cover F back exposing the play or causes the figure carried by said rod to pop up indieating the play marked adjacent to said figure. The ball after passing through-the opening C3 and Operating the lever G drops upon a discharge board I and vis guided to the forward end of the board where the ball is caughtagain ready for another play.

i The board Aas before described is provided with a slot A' adjacenteach base and pivoted in said slot is a plate K to which is attached a figure K' intended to represent the base runner and pivotally connected to 'one corner of the plate K is a rod L and this rod is operated as hereinafter described for the purpose of moving the figure to a Vertical or horizontal position as desired. If the ball B should be dropped through the opening` A2 and in the course of its operation should drop upon the lever which will throw back the cover marked S. II. that Would indicate a safe hit and the batter 'would of course make first base and now to represent this man on the base the rod L is operated so as to turn the plate K bringing the figure K' to the position indieated in dotted lines in Fig. 6. If the next play would put the next batter upon the first base the man formerly on first would proceed to second and it would then be necessary to turn up the man in the second slot and it will thus be understood that whenever` a base runner is on a particular base the figure is' turned up and whenever the said base runner is out the figure is turned down.

By reference to Fig. 2 it will be noted that each figure K' is mounted upon a block or plate K and each block or plate K is operated by means of a rod L. These rods L are operated by means of push rods M', M2 and M3 which project at one side of the board A as most clearly shown, each rod being held in position by means of pressure springs M4. The rod M' is connected to its respective rod L by means of a series of levers which I will designate as M5 'while the rod M2 is connected with its respective rod L by means of a series of levers which I will deslgnate as N G and the rod M3 is connected with 'its rod L by means of a single 'lever M7 and a spring N is connected with .each` set of levers for the purpose of assist- :mg 111 the movements of the same. It will thus be understood that in order to indicate a man upon any base the particular push rod M', M2 or M3 1s pushed 1n and 1n order to withdraw the man from said base it isdown through the board O operating the rod which will throw back one of the covers marked S and this will indicate one strike. The ball is dropped through the opening again and this time will opcrate one of the rods carrying a figure, say the one in right field and this figure will pop up and we will notice that beside the openings is marked the word Out and this will indicate that the batter has batted the ball to the right fielder and has been put out. This makes one out. The ball is dropped again and we will assume that the rod I'I is projected upwardly throwing back the cover marked IC 0. and this will indicate that the play was fouled out. This makes two out.. The ball is dropped again and this time the rod is operated throwing back the cover market 8 B. ll and this will indicate a three base hit and then the push rod M3 is pushed in turning up the figure at the third base. The ball is dropped again and the cover marked S. II iS thrown back indicating a safe hit and this in itself will carry the man on third home 01' presumably so and this will make the firstscore and the game at this time will stand one run, two men out and one man on first base. The ball is dropped every time it is desired to make a play and the openings C3 are so arrangcd and the pins staggered in such a manncr that there is no possible way of knowing what the play will finally be and the element of chance thereby injected into the game makes it all the more interesting and the graphic manncr in which the various plays are indicated makes the operation of the apparatus highly entertaining. The usual method of scoring is of course followed and in this way the interesting and exciting game of baseball can be played in the home.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a baseball apparatus, a board, said board having a plurality of openings produeed therein. covers for normally closing said openings, rods for lifting said covers together with gravity operated means for moving said rods, as set forth.

2. A baseball apparatus, comprising a board having the diamond marked thereon, said board having slots produced therein, adjacent the bases, figures pivotally mount- Sltl ed in said slots, together With means for moving said figures to a Vertical position above the board or horizontal position within the slot as desired.

3. A baseball apparatus coniprising a board, said board having a plurality of openings, niovable covers adapted to nornially cover said openings, said covers having designations to indicate the play, rods for moving said covers, levers for moving said rods, together With a rnovable body and means for directng said body to some one of said levers, as specified.

4. A baseball apparatus coinprising a board, saicl board having a plurality of openings, covers normally covering said openings, each cover When raised indicating some particular play, a second board having a plurality of openings, a niovable body adapted to be projected through the first nientioned board and pass through one of the openings of the second nientionecl board, rods for moving the covers together with levers arranged beneath the second mentioned board and adapted to be operated by the body in passing through said second board, as set forth.

5. A baseballtapparatus comprising a top board having a plurality of openings produced therein, movable covers for said openings, said movable covers having designations thereon or adjacent thereto for the purpose of indicating some particular play, a second board having a plurality of openings, a wall arranged upon said board and surrounding said openings whereby a body projected upon the second board will be caused to pass through one of said openings, a pluralty of levers pivoted beneath the second board, each lever carrying a disk adapted to rest beneath one of said openings, a rod connected to the opposite end of each lever, each rod working in one of the openings and adapted to operate upon one of the movable covers, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a baseball apparatus, a board having the baseball diamond niarked thereon, said board having a plurality of openings produced therein, a hinged cover for each of said openings, each hlnged cover having designations thereon or adjacent thereto to indicate the play, movable rods adapted to turn back said covers and indicate the play together with means for moving said rods,

as set forth.

WILLIAM E. SMALL. `Witnesses:

JAMEs F. KELLY, J AMES M. Corrnn. 

